What's My Name?
by Lex Complex
Summary: Sometimes you have to hide behind a mask to realize who you really are. But when you're ready to take that mask off, will the world still recognize you?
1. Poster Boy

**EDIT:** I worded it wrong the first time around. I meant this takes place during everyone's first year in Kaimei, but I should have clarified that this wouldn't be 100% canon. So yeah, sorry about that.

* * *

**-Poster Boy-**

Daimon blames old habits for making him arrive just in time for his first day. He's barely five steps inside the building and people are giving him _those looks _already. The girls stop mid-gossip to steal a glance at him, and the boys' expressions quickly turn sour, like they just found the sworn enemy of all men. An older-looking girl, likely a senior, comes up to him with a camera in hand. She's from the school paper and she's wondering if he's a model. A model student (and she clearly doesn't realize she made a pun here) would make for a good scoop, or so she claims.

This is exactly why he wanted to be late.

Daimon hates his face not because it's deformed, scarred, or blessed with a birthmark that looks like the Big Dipper. If anything, he's actually wishing he'd grow a constellation on his cheek. Maybe then people will stop treating him like he's the poster boy for _How I Want My Boyfriend to Look_. It's a job that just doesn't pay.

He apologizes to her for the misunderstanding and bows low. He turns around and breaks into a brisk walk, determined to get to his classroom without any more embarrassing situations. But bad luck always seems to have a way of finding him. Daimon's too distracted and walking too fast to notice the Wet Floor sign. Soon, he's slipping and sliding straight into a janitor and his bucket of water. This, of course, earns him even more unwanted stares.

By this time, the janitor, who looks like he ripped off Popeye's look, comes up to him and starts cussing his mouth off, giving Daimon a stern scolding for getting both of them wet. But Daimon's not really hearing any of it; he's too busy drowning in weird looks from the people around him, all the while trying to ignore the unsettling feeling of water seeping through his uniform. He's finding it really hard to resist the urge to get up and go home.

He apologizes to the janitor—it seems like he's been doing nothing but apologizing today—and hurries off to the boys' bathroom. Not much he can do about his clothes, so he washes his face and lets the running water pour over his head, sighing in relief as the cool sensation washes off some of his embarrassment. He still thinks his day couldn't have started off any worse, but at least it's better than the time he peed in his pants back in kindergarten. Now _that_ is the worst first day he's ever had.

There's about three minutes till his class starts. He's not too happy about it, but he's already in school, so he might as well go through with it.

* * *

"Hey, you see that guy at the back?" a redhead whispers to the girl with twintails beside her. She looks like she's whispering, but it's not whispering when he can hear her all the way from the last row.

"You mean the hot piece of handsome that's dripping wet?" Twintails licks her lips and gives him a blatant onceover before whispering back. Again, it's not really whispering.

"Hands off, girl. I called dibs." Redhead has this strange laugh somewhere between a wheeze and a snort.

"No fair. Let me have a bite!" Twintails' laugh is reminiscent of a hyena giving birth. "So, what's his name?"

Redhead shrugs. "Who knows? Wanna ask him?"

"No way. He looks like the not-into-talking type."

Daimon's a little worried about how normal he finds this scene. It's the same old, same old; nobody knows Daimon, but everyone knows Daimon's face. The rest of him doesn't even seem to matter, and it's been this way since he hit puberty. He's had years to get used to it, but it doesn't mean he's happy about it.

The teacher comes in a few minutes later, looking bored and out of it. He gives them an introduction that Daimon is sure he'd given countless times before because he doesn't even stop to entertain any questions. He just keeps going, tuning out the world around him, and Daimon only wishes he could do that. The teacher finishes, no one speaks a word, and he proceeds with an overview of the subject.

Daimon's wondering if every day is going to be like this. He might not be able to take it.

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**A.N.2:** Next chapter, the spotlight falls on Quecchon. I wonder if they will ever reveal her real name.


	2. Outstanding or Standing Out?

**A.N.1**:Writer's block is annoying, to say the least. But I guess I needed the time off to enjoy summer break and everything. I'm still editing my entire Sketmas story, so I went ahead and finished this chapter first since I've neglected this story for far too long.

I don't know if I got Quecchon's "cute face but nasty personality" bit across but I tried. Constructive criticisms are welcomed.

**EDIT: **Just my luck, some words got jumbled up and/or deleted when I uploaded this (like, how did that happen?). I've fixed them, but please tell me if I missed something.

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**-Outstanding or Standing Out?-**

Freshman classes end early today to give them time to check out the various clubs, but Q-chan's not really interested in joining one. Clubs, in her opinion, are for people who can fit in, people who can actually breathe in a social setting, and not for someone like her who blows apart any kind of relationship the moment she opens her mouth. She's half-smiling as she walks down the corridor, playing with the Crossword Puzzle app on her phone as she muses about the brief verbal scuffle she just had at their classroom.

"_Like, what's up with the green hair? I didn't know moss was in season," Redhead snorts._

_Twintails chimes in with her hyena laugh. "And what kind of name is Q-chan? Do you have 25 other siblings named A through Z?"_

_Q-chan dabs on some lip gloss and puckers her lips at them. "I'd rather have moss hair and alphabet siblings than be so plain I'm starting to look like the wall. Oh wait, forget that. The wall's _so_ much prettier than you two." She whips her hair in a mocking display of confidence before heading out the door._

_She hears them mumbling something about how awful her personality is, but she doesn't care. The way she sees it, it takes one to know one._

Q-chan's half-smile fades when she recognizes a boy from her class—Demon-kun or Diamond-kun or something like that—staring intently at a bulletin outside one of the clubrooms. She has never had a conversation with Daikon-kun in the week since school began, and the mere fact that she can't get his name right speaks volumes about what she thinks of him. She dosn't even know how to approach him; his face is notches above most boys, but his personality's so boring she can't help feeling the face is wasted on him.

She stops a few inches behind Doraemon-kun to peek at the note. It's handwritten and reads: Kaimei's Quiz Society is looking for new members! Interested? Wear a mask and a costume when you apply.

She scoffs at the club's lackluster way of attracting members. Whereas the drama club is holding a mini-play outside their clubroom and the broadcasting club is playing a promotional video made by their members, here is the Quiz Society relying on a piece of paper that she's tempted to rip off and throw in the nearest trash bin. But she does commend them for the unusual requirement they thought. She can think of a few things they could use the mask and costumes for.

Digimon-kun's mumbling something about masks and faces, but she doesn't really pay him much attention. She's not interested in trying to find a place in a group, and she'd rather stand out as the girl who embodied uniqueness, but she's thinking a quick glimpse of how the Quiz Society works may not be such a bad thing. It may even prove amusing for whatever it's worth.

. . .

Once club recruitment period ends, Q-chan heads straight for the nearest novelty store. She cringes a little when she sees two loli characters at the entrance, holding those cynical stick things she has seen from commercials like crossed swords. She has mixed feelings about walking alone into a toy store at her age, but it quickly passes when she spots Dragon-kun inside. She wants to laugh at how out of place he is in the absurdly pink building, but she decides against it because she'd rather not have the cashier, who's clearly looking at her through the glass window, thinking she's crazy.

She puts a little strut in her step as she walks past the door, trying her best to look like she's not the least bit awkward about being there. Inside, she discovers that more than half of the customers are actually guys, and she's silently wondering what went wrong with the world after she fell asleep last night. There's a pair of brothers by the figurine section, and the older brother's handsome face is twisted in confusion, his lips quivering and his eyebrows knitted like it's taking him everything he has not to put both boxes he's holding into their cart.

"An-chan, we've been here half an hour already. When did you turn into such an otaku?" the younger brother complains.

"About the same time you became a bigger computer geek than me. Now, be quiet for a minute, Switch. I don't want to regret this decision till my next allowance," he speaks as if he's in a trance.

"But that's just a week away…"

"Shush. Now, Marriage Blue or Maternity Blue?"

Q-chan rolls her eyes at about the same time the younger brother does. She can scarcely believe men could be so obsessed about a figurine of a pregnant woman, but then she remembers she has no right to complain, what with her weird fetish involving people struggling with questions. It takes her a while to realize the older brother's wearing a Kaimei uniform, but this just reassures her that the boys in Kaimei are all weird.

She spots some masks hanging from the wall on the far end. She's tempted to stick around long enough to see which one the otaku chooses, but she doesn't have all day, so she leaves him to his business and makes for the masks. She passes by a large girl eying some of the store's custom-made cosplay outfits. She's mumbling something Q-chan makes out as "Yabasu! If I wear a skirt that short, all the boys are gonna go yabasu over me!" She ignores the urge to tell her the only thing _yabasu_ there is her lack of shame, deeming it inappropriate and downright silly to get so worked up about everything she comes across.

Reaching the other end, she finds that there are all sorts of variants—full masks that were too gaudy for her tastes, half masks that cover only one side of your face, and half masks like the ones they use in masquerade balls. She decides to go with the third option, spotting a bat-shaped one near the top. She gets up on tiptoes, trying to reach it but to no avail. She huffs in indignation, noticing how her luck has been off the entire day. She tries one more time to reach it and this time, her fingers brush against something soft and warm. Something she recognizes as the feel of human skin.

Surprised, she glances to her right and finds Diablo-kun reaching for the same one. Their fingers still touching, she notices how hot his skin felt against hers, but she can't bring herself to pull back for some reason. Daiquiri-kun Is the first to retract his hand, stirring Q-chan from her stupor and making her follow suit. He's staring at her with an awkward mix of surprise and embarrassment, a faint hue of red spreading across his cheeks. She's thinking her luck was _definitely_ off that day, seeing as she's having an encounter with the last guy she wanted meet.

"Ah… We're in the same class, right? Um, what was it? Q-chan?"

"Yeah." Her tone was rather dismissive, like she just wants him to say _Okay, see ya then_ and be on his way. But she knows it won't be that easy.

"I knew I recognized your face. I'm Akihito Daimon. This is the first time we've talked; it's nice to meet you."

He's being far too stiff and it's leaving a bad taste in her mouth. She doesn't even bother replying and simply reaches for another mask, giving up on the bat-shaped one entirely. This one is a simple, rounded mask with no striking features. It completely goes against her desire to stand out and be seen, but her encounter with Daimon-kun (and she's surprised she finally manages to get his name right)is throwing her off her pace. She's already regretting deciding to join the Quiz Society; she doesn't even have a deep reason to do so. Too bad her pride never allows her to back out of something she decided she would do.

"See ya, then," she says, not even looking at him. She hears him fumbling for words behind her back.

"Uh, er, don't you want that one?"

She's not looking, but she knows he's pointing to the one they had both been reaching for. "You can have that one, Dicot-kun."

"It's Daimon, actually."

She's half-smiling on her way to the cashier, clearly getting his name wrong on purpose. She'll have a lot of chances to get his name right (or wrong) if they're going to be in the same club.

She whips out her phone and fiddles with her still unfinished crossword puzzle while waiting in line. One of the questions she has yet to answer is a six-letter synonym for "nasty or awful". Her smile broadens into an amused grin—she's thinking how apropos it is to describe her personality ninety-percent of the time. She knows it's not the correct answer, but she's feeling a bit playful, so she types in a word she never thought she'd use more than once this day.

_Yabasu._

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**A.N.2: **The answer's actually "horrid" but "yabasu" works too. :3 Okay, random ending is random. Shoot me now. :D

We'll finally start to get somewhere with these two's relationship in the next chapter. See ya there.


End file.
